OLD POST ALERT! This is an older post and although you might find some useful tips, any technical or publishing information is likely to be out of date. Please click on Start Here on the menu bar above to find links to my most useful articles, videos and podcast. Thanks and happy writing! – Joanna Penn
So I am flying today, back from Brisbane to London to start the next phase of my life. (Warning: personal post!) It feels like a big move this time, although we don't know how long we will stay. It will be a few years at least. The house is empty, we only have a few bags left after selling or giving away most of our things. I am embracing freedom again!
I left London in May 2000 so it's almost exactly 11 years that I've been away. At the time, I was sick of the big city, long working hours and immersed in a drinking culture that was damaging my health. I didn't have the resources to cope with that at 25, so I went and sat in the Australian outback for a few months, before going to Sydney Olympics, learning to scuba dive and then falling in love down under.
I've been in Brisbane for 4 years and before that was in New Zealand for 7 years and a lot of water has passed under the proverbial bridge in that time. I'm ready to go back now, a very different person at 36 with specific focus and a different take on living the city life.
One of the biggest changes over the last few years has been realizing my love of writing, and my publishing adventures. Starting this site has been instrumental in so much opportunity, and also part of the reason to move back. Thank you for being part of this writing journey and don't worry, the site isn't going anywhere! The internet means I can be anywhere and so can you. Certainly you will have the benefit of some new literary experiences, videos from more exotic locations and my passion for writing-related-travel being indulged!
So why the move? I talked before about the concept of home for writers and I guess that cuts to the heart of it. When I was writing Pentecost, I researched early Christian history as well as the European churches that feature in the book. I spent hours on Flickr looking at photos to re-immerse myself in cultures I have been away from for too long. I have been back to Europe a lot in 11 years and travelled all over the place but kept returning here. While writing, I found myself increasingly drawn back to European history, to Israel and the middle east as well as other places in the Northern Hemisphere. I also want to travel to the US again and it is just too far and expensive from here but I could potentially be in NYC for the weekend from London!
When I started to think about the sequel, Prophecy, earlier this year, I found myself longing for more Euro-travel, more research trips and to be there in person. I also really don't like being called an “Australian” author! Although I think Australia is an awesome country full of great people, I don't identify as Australian. I am English and I am also a Kiwi (I have a New Zealand passport as well). I am ready to work in London again and I have opportunities for the day job, and my husband also has some great possibilities. We have so many plans for the places we will go!
You can tell I am a travel junkie, and perhaps a persistent mover as well. I never stay in the same place very long, so don't expect the move to London to be for too long! Currently the plan is to live in either London or Oxford, depending on the day job situation. It's just coming into summer in England so we should acclimatise. Amusingly, I have to listen to rain on my iPod in order to get into the writing zone. There should be more rainy days back in Blighty so I shouldn't need that anymore!
So the next month or so will involve starting a new life. There are lots of great posts scheduled on the blog so keep on coming back and I will also be doing a mini-relaunch of Pentecost on June 12th (Pentecost Sunday) so watch out for that.
I will definitely be more sporadic in responding to email, comments, Facebook and Twitter for the next few weeks given random internet access until we are settled, but normal service will resume by end of June.
I will also be looking for a new physical network of writers and bloggers in the UK once I am settled, so please do let me know in the comments if you are already part of anything I can look to join, or if you are keen to have a tweet-up July/August.
So bye bye Australia! It's been awesome and no doubt I'll be back sometime in another guise. Until then, it's off to Blighty 🙂
Good luck with your move Joanna!
Best wishes,
Kannan
All the best for the next leg Joanna. I completely associate with the urge to travel and not be bound. 🙂
Cheers
Freya
I’m sure the move will open up an exciting new chapter for you, Joanna! Best wishes for it. 🙂
It sounds like a great move for you. Wishing you well!
What an exciting next phase of your life! Thanks for sharing it with us.
Bon voyage, Joanna – or should I say welcome back to our shores! All the best for the exciting times ahead.
I can completely understand why you’d want to go back. I think Oxford is one of the loveliest places in the world and very much enjoyed your descriptions of it in Pentecost. Look forward to hearing more about your next personal chapter!
All the best for your move Joanna, hope it goes very well!
I’m wishing you good luck with the move and with your fresh new life in Britain, Joanna. You know I’m in Oxford (so you’re showing excellent taste in wanting to return!) and I’d love to meet up and discuss possible joint endeavours!
Safe travels, Joanna! I hope the move goes beautifully and you love your new home just as much as the old one. May it inspire many new stories!
Have a safe trip, Joanna! I can just see how being back will inspire your writing. It will be good for you to be closer to your family as well as to all the places you’d love to visit.
There and back again. Good luck with your move, Joanna!
Ah Joanna, as an Australian writer, and having just discovered Creativepenn, I’m disappointed you must leave our glorious shores, but ‘the tyranny of distance’ is just that and the researching of historical sites becomes prohibitively expensive. Congratulations for being energetic enough to move with your dreams and good luck… looking forward to posts on the new/old life and the development of the new novel.
Safe travels jo. Looking forward to giving you a warm welcome back in blighty. Enjoy this next stage in your adventure! X
I know how you feel. As an expat Canadian living in Australia for almost 20 years now I still miss aspects of home. I too had an opportunity to move back to Canada early in 2003 but for reasons unexplained decided to stay. Turned out to be a good move. You can always go for a visit. I have learned that home really is where you make it. Best of luck.
Wishing you all the best as you feather your nest in England for a while. I’m rooting for Oxford for you! I grew up in England but have lived in Canada for the last 30+ years. Best wishes! Elizabeth.
Good luck on your journey Joanna! You are one of the entrepreneurial writers I admire . You moving to U.K. is to me a sign that it’s really time for me to also go to Europe soon. 🙂
I wish you all the best in England. I for one would prefer to be swapping places with you and leaving London for Australia. LOL
London is too overpriced
London is too overcrowded
London is too overrated.
Buts that my opinion.
I think this site is fantastic and i have learnt so much from your articles and interviews.
Good luck for the future.
Thank you for sharing, and good luck with the move, although I think you are a pro now 🙂 I generally loathe moving and traveling, but only the writer in me really wants to travel. Odd how that works.
Johanna, I’m a long time reader of your blog and want to take a minute to wish you a wonderful transition. I’ll live vicariously through your travels until I’m able to do more traveling myself. Thank you also for all the information you share on a weekly basis. You are an inpiration!